Oldcastle Weekly Newsletter

School Assembly

The whole school joined the virtual assembly this morning and were treated to a surprise rendition of 'Clever Little Bulbs' by our nursery children. We were so impressed by their performance and beautiful singing - thank you to Miss Hughes and the rest of the nursery team for treating us to the lovely singing first thing on a Friday morning.

Throughout the rest of the assembly we heard from each class who provided an update on the tokens collected this week. It is lovely to hear what classes have been doing over the last week. Mrs Littlewood also reminded the pupils about playing balls games in the yard during the morning drop off. The children were told that Mrs Littlewood had received a number of complaints from parents and carers who had been hit by balls in the morning. Due to the health and safety risk children are asked not to play ball games during the drop off period.

Mrs Littlewood thanked the netball and rugby teams for their commitment representing the school over the last term. We then congratulated the whole school for their success with the Afghanistan Appeal and the completion of the 3976 miles the children walked !

We ended the assembly by saying farewell to Mr Trigg. Mr Trigg has been employed at Oldcastle Primary School as a reception teacher covering Miss Williams maternity leave. Miss Williams has now returned to school and will be teaching the Reception class. We are very grateful to Mr Trigg for his commitment to Oldcastle and our reception pupils - we wish you all the luck in your next teaching post.

Don't forget we have two inset days after the Easter holidays and children are back to school on Wednesday 27th April. Please read on for details of the inset days arranged for the next academic year 2022/23.

House Colour Rewards

We've had a busy week with the rewards programme. Children in blue house enjoyed a treasure hunt on the yard and were rewarded with a mini Easter egg, Green house were treated to an extra dessert in the form of a cupcake , Yellow house enjoyed time on the main yard with their bikes and scooters and Red house enjoyed a lovely fruit smoothie. Thank you to Mrs Loughran, Mrs Diehl, Mr Murdoch, Mrs Strachan, Mrs Ace, Mrs Lewis and Mrs Anderson and our student teachers for ensuring all the rewards programme was delivered to the children.

Pupil Voice

Today, the Pupil Voice team came together, during Assembly, to launch their summer term meetings. Every other week, the Pupil Voice Team (Junior Leaders, House Captains and Pupil Champions) will meet with Miss Lincoln to discuss upcoming events, take part in group discussions and work on whole school projects. To kick start today’s meeting, some of the members supported Mr Murdoch with the rewards on the yard whilst Elsie and Aaron collected song votes for the radio station. At each meeting, the team will have an agenda of actions to discuss and will be updating you all in the coming weeks.

School Values

Our school values for this month are Community and Service. Children have been asked to continue working on their behaviour lining up for school dinners and being respectful to the canteen staff.

New Curriculum for Wales - Parental Engagement Session

The Curriculum for Wales is changing. Teachers and education experts from Wales have been working together to create a new Curriculum for Wales. In Oldcastle we are working towards designing a curriculum for our children that supports the 'four purposes' of the new curriculum.

As part of our curriculum design we will support your child to become:

* an ambitious, capable learner, ready to learn throughout their life

* an enterprising, creative contributor, ready to play a full part in life and work

* an ethical, informed citizen, ready to take part in Wales and the world, and a

* a healthy, confident individual, ready to lead a fulfilling life as a valued member of society.

We would like to invite parents to attend an informal session on the new curriculum with Mrs Littlewood and other senior leaders on Thursday 5th May. This session will inform parents what we are doing in Oldcastle as part of our planning to implement the new curriculum from September 2022. There are two sessions - one at 9.30am and one at 5.30pm.

If you would like to attend please complete the following google form. Curriculum Engagement Session

School Community Forum

We are keen to offer members of our school community the opportunity to become involved in the shaping of continuous school improvement at Oldcastle Primary School. In May, we will re-launch our School Community Forum and invite you to join us.

The School Community Forum involves members of the school community meeting once each half term at school to give their opinions, suggestions and support as we review and develop aspects of school life and approaches to teaching and learning. We believe that discussing the proposals for the school with community members, will enable us to ensure the best provision for our children.

Discussions will focus on aspects of school life, such as:

• Vision and Values

• Curriculum, Learning and Teaching

• Outdoor Learning

• Parent engagement and awareness

• Family Engagement

• School Priorities

• National Education Agenda

We hope that the School Community Forum will support us to drive our school priorities and ensure that our links with the local and school community are firmly established. We welcome opinions, views and ideas and would be delighted to share our vision and values with you. School community opinion is important to us please get involved.

Please complete the form below to register your interest in becoming part of our School Community Forum. The first meeting of the School Community Forum will be held on Monday 16th May from 9am to 10am. We aim to hold meetings at various times so please indicate via the form below if you cannot make daytime meetings.

School Community Forum - Registration Form

If you would like further information please do not hesitate to get in contact.

Careers Week - 6th to 10th June

This year we are delighted to launch a new proposal for Oldcastle in the form of a Careers Week!! Our Careers Week will be taking place after May Half Term with the aim of providing children with inspiring and motivating career options available.

With the implementation of the new Curriculum for Wales we will support children to be

• ambitious, capable learners ready to learn throughout their lives

• enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work

• ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world

• healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

We believe that a Careers Week will be a fantastic opportunity for our children and achieves the four purposes as set out above. We hope to arrange for many visitors to come into school throughout the week and talk to the children and their job. We know that many of our parents have a job that will inspire our pupils so we hope you can help. If you think you can help please complete the google form with your details - Careers Week - Parents

Rugby Team Visit

Our school rugby team were fortunate to visit the Brewery Field this week. The pupils from years 5 and 6 thoroughly enjoyed their back of house tour to look at the changing rooms and look a trip down memory lane with a look at all the photos on display. Lewis from year 5 spotted his Dad's photo on the wall from when he represented Wales! The children were able to experience what it would be like on match day as the changing room was laid out with the rugby shirts ready for a game. Following the tour, the children got the opportunity to meet Ronnie the Raven who gave the children an Easter Egg and a ticket for their next game on 15th April. The children were excited to finish off their visit with a kicking competition and a training session on the main pitch!! Well done to Elliot for winning the kicking competition - fantastic kicking boot! We are so grateful to the Brewery Field team for providing such a fascinating tour and inspiring our young rugby players.

The Brewery Field have provided details of their junior membership scheme which you may find useful. Junior ravens membership cost £5.00 per season and for this they receive free entry to each home game, birthday card and gift on birthday. Children also have the chance to be match day mascots and have their photo taken with the team captain. More information is available on the Bridgend Ravens website www.bridgendravens.co.uk/junior-ravens/

Year 4 Stop-Motion Movies

Year 4 have been working hard to create Stop Motion movies over the last week The films focus on ocean pollution and aim to persuade people not to pollute and think about their use of plastic. Mrs Littlewood and Mrs Peters were delighted to receive an official invitation to the premiere of the videos on Tuesday and we are delighted to share these with you. You can view these via this link Stop Motion Videos about Pollution.

Jubilee Celebrations

We are arranging an exciting event for children and staff on Thursday 26th May to commemorate the Queen’s Jubilee and celebrate the 110 year anniversary of Oldcastle Primary School. Children will have the opportunity to dress up in clothes from an allocated era and will also be learning a song from the decade to perform on the day. Each year group have chosen the following era to dress up as on the day. There is no expectation for parents to buy outfits and following the Easter holiday we will send some easy suggestions for parents to follow.

• Nursery - 40s

• Reception - 70s

• Year 1 - 50s

• Year 2 - 40s

• Year 3 - 20s

• Year 4 - 90s

• Year 5 - 80s

• Year 6 - 60's

The PTA are arranging some special guests for the day and we are sure that children will enjoy all the excitement of the celebrations.

All children will be provided with a packed lunch from our catering team on the day and we would like to ensure children get the type of sandwich they will enjoy. Children will be provided with a wholemeal bread sandwich of their choice (see below for the choices available), a drink, crisps and ice cream. Please also confirm any special dietary requirements. Please return the form by 29th April to allow the catering team to order supplies. Jubilee Celebrations Sandwich Request Form

The PTA are also arranging a Platinum Pudding Competition as part of our celebrations and we invite parents and carers to become involved. Get your baking equipment at the ready and marvel us with your creations that are fit for a Queen! Cakes should be brought into school on the morning of Thursday 26th May and we have some special guests to judge the cakes. We invite parents and carers to join us for a cake sale after school when we will announce the winners of the cake competition.

Maths Resources

Oldcastle Primary School is going through some very exciting changes. Staff are working hard to prepare for the launch of the new curriculum in 2022. A major part of our exciting change is the development of our maths environment and provision through play. According to Development Matters (2012) “Children are born ready, able and eager to learn. They actively reach out to interact with other people, and in the world around them. Development is not an automatic process. It depends on each unique child having opportunities to interact in positive relationships and enabling environments.” With this in mind, we are asking if you are able to donate any loose objects that we can use to develop our indoor and outdoor provisions.

Below is attached a list of items we would greatly appreciate. As the safety of our students is paramount, we ask that all items donated are clean and clear of any broken elements. If you have items you feel could be donated but are unsure about, please do not hesitate to contact the school via the ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk email address and either MIss Lincoln or Miss Hodgson will be happy to discuss it further.

We thank you for your continued support and look forward to updating you in the coming weeks with our new provision areas.

Year 2 Message to Parents

Next term, our year group concept is ‘School: Now and Then’. During the first few weeks, we will be exploring the key questions: How do we know what life was like in the past? and How do we record memories? For this, we would be very grateful if children could bring in anything that holds / represents or symbolises a special memory in their own lives. This could be photographs of a special time, medals they have won, gifts they have received, toys that hold special memories etc. We will be sharing these memories with one another, as well as writing about them so please ensure that children are happy to talk about the things they are bringing in. Please could you send these things in a bag / box clearly labelled with your child’s name. As part of our topic, we will also be exploring what school was like for our grandparents and parents. If you have anything that you would be willing to share or bring in for us we would be extremely grateful. We also hope to interview as many family members as possible on our radio station so are looking for anyone that would be interested in telling us all bout their childhood school memories. If you think you can help us please speak to us on the door or email ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk

Easter Holidays Maintenance Works

During the school holidays, the school is often busy with maintenance and building works taking place. This Easter we have a new sensory room being created, new flooring being laid in our entrance corridors, roofing work completed and a variety of health and safety checks and remedial work. We can't wait to show you the new floor and new sensory room after Easter.

Year 5 poetry

Year 5 have been working super hard creating some very powerful poetry as part of their work around sustainability and the impact that we as humans have on the world around us. Here is a small selection from some of our year 5 pupils.

The Quest by Phoebe H

My Adventure around the World by Lilly-May

The Expedition by Layla

The Mission by Phoebe W

Year 1 had a great time with their egg and spoon race this week - the windy weather meant they had to move inside as the wind kept blowing the eggs away!!

Some of our nursery children wore some fantastic Easter bonnets on Friday - they looked great.

Thank you to Mrs Roberts for bringing in 2 lambs this week for our year 2 pupils. The lambs were only 5 weeks old and the children loved seeing them.

Year 5 created some amazing eco house structures as part of their sustainability topic.

Well done to Harry in year 3 who was awarded a Merit Award from his Football Club this week. He was delighted to show off his award - Well done Harry!!

Another busy Friday afternoon with lots of lovely activities taking place for enrichment afternoon

Year 2 looked amazing in their tie dye t-shirts that they have been creating in their enrichment sessions.

Inset Days

Don't forget we have two inset days after the Easter holidays on Monday 25th and Tuesday 26th April - children return to school on Wednesday 27th April.

Bank holiday

Don't forget there is a bank holiday on Monday 2nd May and school will be closed.

Year 4 Enrichment Sessions after Easter

After Easter year 4 will be visiting Bridgend Recreation Centre on a Friday afternoon as part of their Enrichment Session. Please can year 4 children come to school wearing PE kit on a Friday from 29th April.

Sports Clubs - Year 5 and 6

Year 5 and 6 parents have been emailed details of after school sports club available after Easter. Please check your emails. The revised sports clubs will start following the bank holiday 3rd May for Summer Sports and 9th May for cricket.

Online Safety

Parents may find the information contained in this link useful. Online Safety

Football Club - Year 4

Football club for year 4 children will not take continue after the Easter holidays.

Reception Class PE Day

Reception Class PE day will change after the Easter holidays to a Tuesday, please ensure your child wears their PE kit to school on Tuesday's so they can participate in PE.

Sports Day

We are hoping to arrange sports days in the summer term for our children - we will keep you updated following the Easter holidays.

School Bags

We have a very limited amount of coat and bag storage at school and we ask that children are mindful about the size of the bag that they bring to school. Some bags are very large and cause issues with storage in our cloakroom areas. Children only need to bring a water bottle, lunch box (if applicable) in their bag so do not require a large bag.

School Savings Club

School savings club will continue on every Wednesday.

Contact details

If any of your contact details have changed please let us now so that we may update our records. You can either complete a Change of Details online form here, call us or email us via ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk

Diary Dates

• 11th to 22nd April - Easter Holidays

• 25th April - Inset Day

• 26th April - Inset Day

• 27th April - Return to school

• 2nd May - Bank Holiday

• 5th May - Nursery, Reception and Year 6 Long Class Photos

• 26th May - Jubilee Celebrations

• 30th May to 3rd June - Half term

• 6th June - Return to school

• 13th June to 17th June - Year 6 Activity Week

• 20th June - Inset Day

• 22nd June - Class and Team Photos

• 22nd July - End of summer term

Inset Days 2022 / 23

Inset days for the next academic year have now been confirmed and these are as follows:

• Monday 5th September 2022

• Monday 7th November 2022

• Friday 31st March 2023

• Friday 26th May 2023

• Monday 24th July 2023

In the event that you have a concern regarding a child please follow this procedure:

• During school hours please contact Mrs Ceri Littlewood, safeguarding lead at Oldcastle Primary School.

• Out of school hours please contact the out of hours Emergency Duty Team Tel No 01443849944

At Oldcastle, we are proud of each other and ourselves. We nurture all of our community so that we grow as confident, responsible and happy people. Oldcastle school is more than just learning.

• We try hard for each other

• We act responsibly

• We treat people how we’d like to be treated

• We work as a team

• We trust and respect each other

• We listen and learn together

• We share knowledge and experience

Together we make the difference

Together we shape innovative experiences

More information on our values and visions can be found on our website. Visions and Values

COVID

Please take time to refresh yourself with the current COVID Rules in place in Wales

• If you or your child get a positive lateral flow test result, most people will not need to take a PCR test to confirm the result. You must self-isolate immediately if you get a positive rapid lateral flow test result.

• Self-isolate for 5 days if you test positive for COVID-19. You should take a Lateral Flow Test (LFT) on day 5 and day 6. If either LFT is positive, you should remain in isolation until 2 negative LFTs are received 24 hours apart..

If your child does have a PCR or a positive lateral flow test please let us know via our ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk email address or by telephoning 01656 815790.

When we are notified of a positive case in school we are required to send an 'Inform' letter to those in the same class as the case. If we have more than 2 cases in a class we are required to send a 'Warn and Inform' letter to parents - this letter provides further advice on LFT testing. If a warn and inform letter is sent we are not required to re-send the letter for a seven day period even if there are additional cases.

We are very grateful to parents for your support during the Covid pandemic.